Surprise in the post! A letter all the way from Kumamoto, Japan, with the good news: My haiku was awarded Third Prize in the 19th International ”Kusamakura” Haiku Competition, 2014. A nice letter and a certificate to show off.

This is what the organisers say about the contest: “This contest strives to celebrate the novelist and haiku poet Soseki, as well as to bring awareness of “Kumamoto and its Haiku” to the national level and further develop Kumamoto’s haiku culture.” It certainly does so, and on an international level too.

Prizes will be awarded at the Kumamoto City Municipal Gymnasium and Youth Center on November 22, 2014. Warmest congratulations to the Grand Prize and all other winners. I wish I could be there!

There is a list of winning haiku from earlier years here (scroll down).